Kirk Herbstreit had time.
The ESPN “College GameDay” analyst sent a warning about “false narratives” after someone trolled him on social media for congratulating Michigan for defeating Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Tuesday.
Herbstreit was quickly accused by said X user of wanting the Crimson Tide to have been selected for the 12-team College Football Playoff (CFP) bracket.
“Congrats @UMichFootball on a big win!! Huge for them and the @bigten,” Herbstreit wrote on X after the Wolverines’ 19-13 win.
“You wanted Alabama in the playoff,” someone replied, including a meme of WWE star Jimmy Uso laughing.
“Keep believing the false narratives clown,” Herbstreit fired back.
Herbstreit laughed at another message from someone who congratulated him and fellow “College GameDay” analyst Desmond Howard “for picking the Reliaquest Bowl correctly.”
“Wait a second,” Herbstreit wrote. “Why let facts get in the way of a bulls–t narrative! Haha!!”
Warning: Tweets includes an expletive
Herbstreit is making it clear that he believes it’s a false narrative that he vouched for Alabama to be selected as a then three-loss team.
X posted a community note including a link to him saying Indiana should not have been on the field in the first round after being defeated soundly by Notre Dame.
He also explained on “SportsCenter” that Indiana had 11 wins and beat “nobody.”
“Indiana was outclassed in that game,” Herbstreit said the day after Indiana’s 27-17 loss to the Fighting Irish. “It was not a team that should have been on that field when you consider other teams that could have been there. It’s no knock on Indiana, they had a great year. But we’ve got to move forward with the playoff and hope that the committee does a better job of weighing who the best 12 are vs. who’s the most deserving, because by golly, they’ve got 11 wins, they didn’t beat anybody, but they’ve got 11 wins. That’s a bunch of BS. We need to find the best teams. And last night it was incredibly evident just standing on that field and watching the game the way it played out.”
Herbstreit has, though, defended Alabama in the past.
Last December, he raised some eyebrows when he said “Bama should’ve and did get the edge of Florida State” in getting the final spot in the four-team CFP
The committee’s decision came down to the argument that the then-undefeated Seminoles weren’t the same team after losing quarterback Jordan Travis to a season-ending ankle injury.
It marked the first time an unbeaten Power Five team had ever been overlooked for a CFP spot.
During the Nov. 18 installment of “College GameDay” — hours before Travis suffered a dislocated ankle in the Seminoles’ 58-13 rout of North Alabama — Herbstreit made the playoff case for Alabama.
“No way the SEC champs left out,” he said.
After the decision was final, Herbstreit said that many things played a factor in the decision, including strength of schedules and significant injuries
“This is not the same team without Jordan Travis,” Herbstreit said in his video on X. “… Please don’t take this personally. It’s more of a reflection of evaluating Alabama versus Florida State and just looking at who is the better team right now — and that’s why Bama should’ve and did get the edge over Florida State. Listen, you don’t have to agree with it, but there is no agenda.”
